Cold Mountain

1. Cold Mountain Chapter 9 – To live like a Gamecock

2. Chapter Summary • Inman and Veasey come across a dead cow stuck in the fork of a river, and it’s owner, Junior. • Inman helps Junior remove the cow, thus he and Veasey go back to juniors shanty for supper. Where Junior betrays them, by presenting them to the home-guard. • Inman and Veasey are then chained, together with some other prisoners, and taken to the east. After some time walking the guards decides to shoot them. Veasey gets killed instantly, whereas Inman gets hit from the bullet which passes through Veasey and gets hit on the shoulder. • Later the next morning Inman is woken by a boar digging around him, and begins heading back west.

3. Epigraph • “One of the guards lowered his weapon and looked to the leader and said, I didn’t sign on to kill grandpaws and little boys. The leader said to him, cock back to fire or get down there with them.” (p219)

4. Analysis • When Inman, Veasey and Junior are heading to Junior’s shanty, a dog begins rushing towards inman and before it gets to him Inman kicks it and almost kills it. • “As they left the road to descend into Junior’s bottomland, a three-legged, patchy-haired dog of the terrier kind clamored out from under the porch and ran low to the ground and completely soundless on a trajectory straight to Inman, who had learned to heed a silent dog more than a barking dog. Before it got to him, Inman kicked and caught it under the chin with a boot toe. The dog collapsed and lay motionless in the dirt. Inman looked to Junior and said, What was I to do?” (p202) • Soon after, the dog begins to stand and walk back under the porch, and Inman says “I’m glad he’s not dead” (p202). This shows that Inman, even after going through the hellish nightmare of war, is still upholding his vow to not kill animals.